Galaxy S9 CAD Renders Hint At Changes On The Rear Panel

Most smartphone vendors don’t radically change the design of their flagship phones every year. Considering the overwhelmingly positive response the Galaxy S8’s Infinity display has received, Samsung is widely expected to retain the Infinity display on the Galaxy S9. But the Galaxy S8 did have some flaws on the rear panel that need to be fixed. The newly surfaced Galaxy S9 CAD renders show that the Korean company is going to fix them.

Image Source: SlashLeaks.com (screenshot)

Galaxy S9 CAD renders show the dual camera setup

The alleged Galaxy S9 CAD renders were posted on Chinese site Weibo, and spotted by SlashLeaks. Noted Twitter tipster Ice Universe has reported previously that the Galaxy S9 rear panel would “change a lot.” Folks at Trusted Reviews reached out to their reliable sources to confirm the authenticity of the Galaxy S9 CAD renders. They said the renders could be one of the many early designs Samsung was toying with.

Samsung introduced dual cameras with the Galaxy Note 8, and the leaked schematics show that the S9 would also feature a dual camera setup. However, the cameras will be placed vertically on the upcoming flagship rather than horizontally. The renders suggest that little would change on the front panel. The phone retains the bezel-less Infinity display that curves on the sides. There are only minimal bezels at the top and bottom.

Image Source: SlashLeaks.com (screenshot)

If it turns out of be true, the fingerprint reader will be placed below the dual camera system, not next to it. It means the fingerprint scanner will be near the center of the rear panel, where it should have been on the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy Note 8. The S8 and Note 8 users have often complained that the rear-mounted fingerprint scanner was difficult to reach. Sometimes, they would accidentally place their finger on the camera lens.

The rumor mill was hoping that Samsung would embed the fingerprint scanner under the Galaxy S9 display. But that’s not going to happen. KGI Securities claims Galaxy Note 9 will be Samsung’s first smartphone to feature an in-display fingerprint solution. Samsung is still struggling to fix the security and production issues with the optical fingerprint solution.

The Galaxy S9 CAD renders show that the upcoming flagship would retain the Bixby button on the side, rubbishing the rumors that Samsung would ditch the Bixby button. Other than that, the renders don’t reveal anything new. We hope that the Galaxy S9 would allow users to customize the Bixby button to activate any app of their choice rather than just the Bixby assistant.

Samsung unveils the Galaxy S9 processor

Samsung has announced a new Exynos processor that would power the Galaxy S9. Of course, the US version of the device will likely run Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 SoC. But most other countries will get the Galaxy S9 units running Samsung’s in-house Exynos 9810. Built using the 10nm manufacturing process, the new chipset has 3rd-generation custom CPU cores, gigabit modem with “industry-first 6CA support”, and an upgraded GPU.

The 6CA (carrier aggregation) means the processor will support download speeds of up to 1.2GB/s, which is 20% higher than the 5CA download speed of 1GB/s offered by the Galaxy S8. Theoretically, the Galaxy S9 would allow you to download an HD movie in less than ten seconds. Samsung had revealed way back in July that it was working on the 6CA.

Galaxy S9 production to start next month

Industry sources recently told The Investor that the Galaxy S9 mass production would begin in December. Samsung traditionally launches new Galaxy S handsets in March/April. But the December production schedule suggests the company is planning to bring the Galaxy S9 to the market sooner. We have heard rumors that the Korean company could launch the S9 in January or February to take on Apple’s 10th anniversary iPhone X.

Only time will tell whether the Galaxy S9 would be capable enough to challenge the dominance of the iPhone X. Samsung needs a strong device to defend its market share against the iPhone X. The Korean company is also working on a foldable smartphone dubbed Galaxy X, but it is unlikely to launch before the Galaxy S9.

The Galaxy S9 is rumored to feature a neural engine from DeePhi Tech to handle AI tasks. The Snapdragon variant of the device will have Qualcomm’s neural engine, though. The S9 is said to pack 6GB RAM and 128GB internal storage.